U.S. patent number 10,004,997 [Application Number 14/933,348] was granted by the patent office on 2018-06-26 for smart phone controllable construction brick vehicle.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Meeper Technology, LLC. The grantee listed for this patent is Meeper Technology, LLC. Invention is credited to James Brandon, Elizabeth Eversoll.
United States Patent |
10,004,997 |
Eversoll , et al. |
June 26, 2018 |
Smart phone controllable construction brick vehicle
Abstract
A vehicle toy that can work with common construction blocks
provides connector surfaces covering the top and bottom of the toy
housing for full integration into construction projects. Interface
and control with the vehicle are provided by mesh wireless
connectivity to a cell phone or the like greatly simplifying its
construction. Mesh interconnections between vehicles and
controllers allow greater interaction of the devices including
allowing one device to be nominated as a referee permitting
automatically refereed interactive contests.
Inventors: |
Eversoll; Elizabeth (Verona,
WI), Brandon; James (Watertown, WI) |
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Meeper Technology, LLC |
Verona |
WI |
US |
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Assignee: |
Meeper Technology, LLC (Verona,
WI)
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Family
ID: |
55911450 |
Appl.
No.: |
14/933,348 |
Filed: |
November 5, 2015 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20160129358 A1 |
May 12, 2016 |
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Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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62076925 |
Nov 7, 2014 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63F
13/327 (20140902); A63F 13/25 (20140902); A63H
17/26 (20130101); A63F 13/577 (20140902); A63F
13/34 (20140902); A63H 17/002 (20130101); A63H
30/04 (20130101); A63H 2200/00 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A63H
18/16 (20060101); A63H 17/26 (20060101); A63H
17/00 (20060101); A63F 13/25 (20140101); A63F
13/34 (20140101); A63F 13/327 (20140101); A63H
30/04 (20060101); A63F 13/577 (20140101); A63H
17/44 (20060101); A63H 17/32 (20060101) |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Other References
"Scalextric Quick Build reivew", [dated 2013]. [online], [retrieved
Nov. 13, 2017]. Retrieved from the Internet
<URL:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/caraccessories/10403302/Scale-
xtric-Quick-Build-review.html>. 2 pages. cited by examiner .
"C1301 Scalextric Demolition Derby "Quick Build"", [dated 2013].
[online], [retrieved Nov. 13, 2017]. Retrieved from the Internet
<URL:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hizvXAx3UUQ>. 1 page.
cited by examiner.
|
Primary Examiner: Galka; Lawrence
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Boyle Fredrickson, S.C.
Parent Case Text
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional 62/076,925
filed Nov. 7, 2014, and hereby incorporated in its entirety by
reference.
Claims
What we claim is:
1. A game system comprising: a first device including an
interconnected wireless transceiver, electronic processor, and
player interface for receiving commands from a player; a second
device including an interconnected wireless transceiver, electronic
processor, and player interface for receiving commands from a
player; at least two remote-control vehicles each having a housing
having an upper and lower surface each providing tube and stud-type
mechanical interface elements for standard construction blocks; at
least one electric motor positioned within the housing and
providing an axle extending from the housing to a wheel and an
electronic circuit including a computer processor and a radio
transceiver for establishing mesh communication with at least two
other devices; and a program executing in portions on the wireless
control device and the two remote-control vehicles to; (a) receive
commands at each of the remote-control vehicles from a
corresponding first and second wireless device operating as a
control device allowing the player to input commands to the player
interface to control the corresponding remote-control vehicle; (b)
provide sense condition signals from each remote-control vehicle to
one of the first and second wireless devices operating as a referee
device; and (c) control at least one of the remote control vehicles
according to the sensed condition signal; wherein the program
further executes to implement in the controllers at least one
referee device receiving the sensed condition signals and to: (c)
receive commands at the remote control vehicles from the referee
device to control at least one of the remote control vehicles
according to the sensed condition signals and a rule set defining
game rules of a game conducted with the first and second wireless
device; wherein the sensed signal indicates an out-of-bounds
vehicle position and wherein the program executes so that a command
from the referee device causes a pause in operation of the
remote-control vehicle providing the out-of-bounds signal for a
predetermined period of time; wherein the sensed signal provides an
indication of proximity between the first and second remote-control
vehicles and wherein the program executes to provides for an "it"
token transfer between one remote-control vehicle currently having
the "it" token and another remote-control vehicle not currently
having the "it" token and to output a relative score to the first
and second remote-control vehicles associated with that
transfer.
2. The game system of claim 1 wherein the proximity is sensed by at
least one of a strength of the radio signals exchanged between the
first and second remote-control vehicles and contact between the
first and second remote-control vehicles.
3. The game system of claim 1 wherein the sensed condition is a
proximity between the first and second remote-control vehicles and
the program responds to the sensed condition to stop operation of
at least one of the first and second remote-control vehicles for a
predetermined period of time.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a remote control vehicular toy and
in particular to a toy platform that fully integrates with standard
stud and tube type construction blocks and which may be controlled
wirelessly by a smart phone, tablet or similar device.
Construction blocks such as those commercially available from
Lego.RTM., Mega Bloks.RTM. and others, provide for a stud and tube
connection system that releasably holds the blocks together when
attached upper face to lower face, for example, as described in
U.S. Pat. No. 3,005,282 hereby incorporated by reference.
It is known to animate constructions assembled from such blocks,
for example, by providing blocks incorporating motors, switches, or
the like. Complex control of such animated constructions can be
provided through the use of a computer controller also incorporated
into a housing allowing it to be integrated with block
constructions.
In this latter case, the controller is typically bulky and has a
surface interrupted with manual buttons and visual displays that
make it difficult to integrate into many designs and which can
cause it to dominate any construction into which it is
incorporated.
While playing with animated construction block assemblies can
provide multiple dimensions for creative interaction, the creative
options with current controller systems are limited, particularly
with respect to interactions between other players. Fundamentally,
it can be difficult to incorporate basic remote control devices
into absorbing gameplay.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a vehicle element for popular
construction block systems that eliminates control inputs and
outputs on the vehicle element in favor of wireless communication
with a smart phone or the like. As a result, a small form factor
package may be created that better integrates with construction
block constructions providing block-like upper and lower surfaces
fully populated with studs or tubes.
The present invention facilitates interactive play with multiple
vehicles by providing a mesh network that allows for the
designation of a "referee" device overseeing automatic rules for
playing games such as racing, tag or the like. In this use, the
communication protocol used to provide the mesh network may also
provide for proximity sensing between vehicles for more
sophisticated interactive play.
Specifically then, in one embodiment, the invention provides a
remote-control vehicle having a housing with an upper and lower
surface each providing tube and stud-type mechanical interface
elements for standard construction blocks. At least one electric
motor is positioned within the housing and provides an axle
extending from the housing to a wheel. The housing holds an
electronic circuit including a computer processor and a radio
transceiver for establishing communication with remote wireless
control devices for control of the at least one electric motor
using the remote wireless control device.
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to
provide a motor controller for construction blocks that may be
tightly integrated into block constructions.
The remote-control vehicle may include a second electric motor
providing a second axle extending from the housing for driving a
second wheel, the second electrical motor independently controlled
by the electronic circuit.
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to
provide a simple mechanism for steering the device by the selective
control of the motors.
The upper and lower surfaces may be substantially parallel and may
each provide only a single uninterrupted rectangular array of
mechanical interface elements over substantially the entire upper
and lower surfaces.
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to
provide an element that is substantially a large construction brick
to permit full and versatile incorporation into a construction
block construction.
The axle may extend from the housing parallel to the upper and
lower surfaces on a side surface so that the wheel extends beyond
planes defined by the upper and lower surfaces.
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to
provide a vehicle that can operate in either of two orientations of
right side up or upside down.
The radio transceiver may operate to provide communication with at
least two remote control devices including a referee device and a
control device and the computer may execute a stored program to
receive commands from both the referee device and the control
device for control of the electric motor and to provide priority to
commands from the referee device when there is a conflict between
commands from the referee device in the control device.
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to
permit competitive gameplay between multiple vehicles moderated by
an automated referee according to defined game rules.
The radio transceiver may operate to provide signals to the remote
wireless control device and referee control device indicating a
proximity of the radio transceiver to radio transceivers of other
remote control vehicles.
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to
make use of the wireless communication protocol for determining
proximity of the vehicles to each other that is useful for many
game formats.
The remote-control vehicle may further include at least one sensor
communicating with the computer processor for providing a signal to
the wireless control device and referee control device.
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to
permit sensors to be provided allowing remote conditions to be
reported from the vehicles to the referee device and control device
with respect to control of gameplay.
The sensor may be a bumper positioned on a side wall between the
upper and lower surfaces for detecting a contact between the bumper
and another surface to provide a signal to the remote wireless
control device and the wireless referee device.
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to
permit control of contact between the vehicle and a stationary or
moving structure as part of gameplay.
More generally, the invention ma provide a game system having
multiple smart phone-type devices, for example, including a first
wireless device including an interconnected wireless transceiver,
electronic processor, and player interface for receiving commands
from a player and a second wireless device, including an
interconnected wireless transceiver, electronic processor, and
player interface for receiving commands from a player. The system
may include two remote control vehicles as described above and a
program executing in portions on the wireless control device, the
wireless referee device and the at least two remote-control
vehicles to: (a) receive commands at each of the remote-control
vehicles from a corresponding first and second wireless device
operating as a control device allowing the player to input commands
to the player interface to control the corresponding remote-control
vehicle; (b) provide sense condition signals from each
remote-control vehicle to one of the first and second wireless
devices operating as a referee device; and (c) receive commands
from the referee device to control at least one of the
remote-control vehicles according to the sensed condition signals
and a rule set defining game rules of the game conducted with the
first and second wireless devices.
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to
make use of multiway wireless interconnectivity to provide for
automatic refereeing of a variety of games using the extensive
processing power of the wireless smart phone-type devices and their
ability to download applications that may define gameplay.
In one example, the sensed signal may indicate an out-of-bounds
vehicle position and the program may execute so that a command from
the referee device causes a pause in operation of the
remote-control vehicle providing the out-of-bounds signal for a
predetermined period of time.
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to
provide more sophisticated results from violation of game rules
related to boundaries, for example, better simulating the results
of a crash or the like.
In another example, the sensed signal may provide an indication of
proximity between the first and second remote-control vehicles and
wherein the program executes to provides for an "it" token transfer
between one remote-control vehicle currently having the "it" token
and another remote-control vehicle not currently having the "it"
and to output a relative score to the first and second
remote-control vehicles associated with that transfer.
It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to
permit an automatically moderated and scored tag game.
These particular objects and advantages may apply to only some
embodiments falling within the claims and thus do not define the
scope of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the vehicle platform of the present
invention next to a smart phone that may be used as a controller
for the vehicle;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the vehicle platform and smart phone
showing the principal functional elements of each;
FIG. 3 is a diagram of a mesh network implemented by the present
invention allowing communication among multiple controllers and
vehicles;
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a program executed by the interconnected
controllers and vehicles of FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view of manipulables that may be placed in
the environment of the vehicles for added gameplay features;
FIG. 6 is a fragmentary block diagram of a bumper activating a
switch for signaling contact between the vehicle and a stationary
surface;
FIG. 7 is a simplified perspective view of the manipulable serving
as fiducials for virtual reality augmentation;
FIG. 8 is a figure of a design for a golf ball or other retrievable
item employing a Bluetooth transceiver establishing a connection to
a smart phone or similar device for location purposes;
FIG. 9 is a simplified plan view of a process of determining a
bearing of the golf ball of FIG. 8 using a smart phone; and
FIG. 10 is a plot of acceleration versus time from an internal
accelerometer in the golf ball of FIG. 8 that may be used to
determine approximate range and make other flight measurements.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Construction Block Vehicle System
Referring now to FIG. 1, a vehicle 10 may provide for a generally
rectangular block (parallelepiped) shaped housing 12 having front
and rear parallel axles 14a and 14b extending from inside the
housing 12 outward therefrom. Each distal end of the axles 14 may
terminate at a rubber wheel 16, the wheels 16 arrayed to
simultaneously contact a planar surface beneath the housing 12 to
propel the vehicle 10 along that surface.
An upper surface 13 of the housing 12 may provide for construction
block studs 18, for example, over substantially the entire upper
surface 13 as a single uninterrupted rectangular array of equal
columns and rows of studs 18. The studs 18 may be integrally molded
to the housing 12 as an injection molded part. Each of the studs 18
of this uninterrupted rectangular array is regularly spaced along
vertices of a square grid that allow connection to other similar
dimension construction block such as Mega Bloks manufactured by
MEGA Brands Inc. or LEGOS.RTM. manufactured by the LEGO Group and
described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,005,282 hereby incorporated by
reference. Generally the upper surfaces of the studs 18 will lie in
a common plane.
A lower surface 15 of the housing 12 may provide for corresponding
construction block tubes 20, for example, over substantially the
entire lower surface 15 as a single uninterrupted rectangular array
of equal size columns and rows of tubes 20. Again the tubes 20 may
be integrally molded to the housing 12 as an injection molded part
and may be spaced along vertices of a square grid that allow
connection to other similar dimension construction block elements
as described above.
The upper surface 13 and lower surface 15 will be generally
parallel and separated by a distance 21 that is smaller than a
diameter 23 of the smallest of the wheels 16 so that the wheels 16
may extend at once both above a plane of the upper surface 13 and
below a plane of the lower surface 15. For this purpose the axles
14 may be positioned approximately midway between the upper surface
13 and lower surface 15. These relative dimensions allow the
housing 12 to roll on the wheels 16 with either the upper surface
13 above the axles 14 or below the axles 14 with the vehicle 10
inverted.
Referring now also to FIG. 2, axles 14a may be independent so that
each attaches independently to a different electric motor 22, for
example, a DC permanent magnet motor. Electric motors 22 may
communicate through a planetary, gear-down gearbox 24 with the
respective wheel 16. The electric motors 22 may be controlled by
solid-state switches 26, such as transistors, metering power from a
battery 28 contained in the housing 12 to the electric motors
22.
Each of the solid-state switches 26 may be controlled independently
by a microcontroller 30 having a processor 32 and electronic memory
34 holding a stored program. The microcontroller 30 may also
receive power from the battery 28. In addition, power from the
battery 28 may be provided to a low energy Bluetooth (BLE), also
known as Bluetooth Smart, transceiver 36 that may communicate with
the microcontroller 30. The transceiver 36 may receive commands via
Bluetooth signals and transmit the signals to the microcontroller
30 which uses its stored program to control the motors 22
independently. This independent control may provide for
simultaneous forward rotation of each motor 22, simultaneous
reverse rotation of each motor 22 or single reverse or forward
rotation of only one of the two motors 22. These control states
allow the vehicle 10 to move forward or backwards in a straight
line or curve so as to turn left or right. It will be appreciated
that different motor speeds may also be implemented by controlling
the voltage or current received by the motors 22, for example, by
providing suitable control signals to the solid-state switches 26,
for example, a current signal, or to a bipolar transistor which may
then act as a current source.
Microcontroller 30 may also communicate with one or more sensors 37
such as light sensors or push button switches or the like and one
or more output devices 39 such as an LED or piezoelectric
transducer that can be incorporated into the housing 12 without
interfering with the block connector surfaces. The transceiver 36
may receive these sensor values from the microcontroller 30 and
transmit those as Bluetooth signals.
The Bluetooth transceiver 36 may transmit and receive Bluetooth
signals 38 to or from a smart wireless controller 40 such as a
smart phone or tablet or the like containing a Bluetooth
transceiver 42. This Bluetooth transceiver 42 may communicate with
an internal processor system 44 incorporating a processor 46 and
electronic memory 48 holding a stored program. Typically, the
processor system 11 will also communicate with a touchscreen 50
providing for graphic display output as well as a touch sensitive
surface. In this way the touchscreen 50 provides a general-purpose
human machine interface.
The wireless controller 40 will be powered by a battery system 52
so as to provide portability in the manner of an ideal remote
control unit. Generally the smart wireless controller 40 may also
include a variety of additional sensors including a camera 58, a
three-axis accelerometer and/or gyro 60, a microphone 62, a compass
64, and a GPS receiver 65.
The program in the memory 48 of the smart wireless controller 40
may execute to provide on the touchscreen 50 a set of direction
arrows 56 that may be touched to control the operation of the
motors 22 either in tandem forward, tandem reverse, or one forward
at a time as described above. Alternatively or in addition to this
control mechanism, the smart wireless controller 40 may sense
tipping, shaking, or rotation of the smart wireless controller 40
using the internal accelerometer or gyroscope 60, or the compass
may be used to effect control of the vehicle 10, and these inputs
may be used to control the operation of the motors 22.
It will be appreciated that the hardware and processing power of
the smart wireless controller 40 allows for extremely sophisticated
control strategies including, for example, controlling sequences of
moves of the vehicle 10 according to a program, for example,
prepared in the manner of the Logo computer program which allows
children and adults to learn basic programming skills using
movement of the vehicle 10. It will also be appreciated that the
camera 58, for example, may be used to track the location of the
vehicle 10 and to provide control signals to the vehicle 10 based
on camera observation based on that tracking, for example, to move
the vehicle 10 automatically through a maze or the like under
automated visual feedback.
Equally important, the additional processing capability of the
smart wireless controller 40 allows, for example, the smart
wireless controller 40 to control multiple vehicles at the same
time, for example, using commands from players entered into four
different quadrants of the touch display. In this way interference
among multiple controllers is eliminated, the need for multiple
controllers is eliminated and the single communication channel may
be used, significantly reducing costs. Each different vehicle 10
may be given a unique identification code, for example, like a MAC
address so as to sort out the commands intended for that particular
vehicle 10.
The ability of the vehicle 10 to work with standard construction
blocks allows not only classic vehicles to be constructed on top of
the vehicle 10 but also, for example, permits robots or similar
fighting engines to be constructed which may be collided against
each other in the manner of battling robots or may play in
competitive activities, for example, as soccer players. In this
case, the height of the structures added to the housing 12 using
construction bricks may be substantial and many levels high, for
example, exceeding 10 to 20 construction blocks. In addition, other
motorized elements such as rotating arms or the like may be
added.
Referring now to FIG. 3, the present invention can provide a
multiperson play system 66 using multiple controllers 40, for
example, controllers 40a and 40b and multiple vehicles 10a, 10b in
a mesh network 67 in which each vehicle 10 is in bidirectional
communication with each controller 40 and the controllers 40 are in
bidirectional communication with each other and the vehicles 10 are
in bidirectional communication with each other. In this mesh
network 67, the various processors of the controllers 40 and
vehicles 10 may jointly execute a program 70 (shown generally in
FIG. 4).
Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, particular control assignment, for
example, of controller 40a to control vehicle 10a and for
controller 40b to control vehicle 10b may be enforced through the
use of unique addresses for the different devices so that an
individual player having a given controller 40 may control only
vehicles 10 assigned to that controller 40. This linking of
controllers 40 to vehicles 10 may be accomplished by a
commissioning process per process block 68 in which all vehicles
are identified, for example, on the touchscreen 50 of the
controllers 40 and the player taps those images to make the
necessary control assignments. At the conclusion of process block
68, each vehicle 10 will have a single unique controller 40 for the
purpose of providing a control device receiving commands from the
player.
Per succeeding process block 72, the players may then nominate one
of the controllers 40 to provide a referee device. The nominated
control controller 40 may provide for dual functionality in this
capacity both as a controller device and as a referee device.
Alternatively a separate controller 40 may be used for the referee
device. Generally the referee device will enforce game rules in the
manner of a referee and will keep score and provide outputs of the
score as appropriate for that game. The particular rules of a
desired game may be implemented in the form of an application
program downloaded, for example, from the Internet onto the
controller 40 providing the referee device.
As indicated by process block 74, after a referee device is
selected, the particular rule set may be selected from a variety of
different applications listed on the controller 40 providing for
the referee device functionality. The rule set will provide for
different rule functions having arguments based on signals received
from the players of the controllers 40 and signals sensed by the
vehicles 10 together with additional data such as from timers and
the like, and having arguments in the form of commands sent to the
vehicles 10 as will be apparent from the following examples.
The program 70 may then allow for operation of the vehicles 10 by
the controllers 40 operating as control devices through repetition
of a series of process blocks 76 and 78. At process block 78, the
vehicles 10 report sensed activity in the vicinity of the vehicles
10 to their associated controller 40 and to the referee device, in
the simplest case, the sensed activity will be a proximity of a
vehicle 10 to other vehicles 10 or objects being part of the mesh
network 67. Here, proximity to another device having a Bluetooth
transceiver may be readily determined as a feature of Bluetooth
communication. In other cases, various sensors 37 may provide the
signals communicated from the vehicles 10.
At process block 78, vehicles 10 may receive commands from the
controllers 40 acting as control, devices from inputs on the
controllers 40 by the players. These commands provide direct
control of the vehicles 10, for example, steering them and
directing them forward and backward at different speeds. These
commands may also execute prestored sequences of commands to the
same effect.
At process block 80, the vehicles 10 may also receive commands from
the referee device. At decision block 82, these commands from the
referee device are compared to commands from the control devices to
determine if these different commands conflict based on the rule
set. If so, at process block 84, referee device commands override
or modify those of the control device (either or both as
implemented by a controller 40).
At process block 86 the prevailing instructions are executed and
outputs may be provided, for example, indicating scoring or game
progress.
Example I
Referring also to FIG. 5, in one example, the system may implement
an obstacle course or racecar-type game in which multiple vehicles
10 race or maneuver over an area 88. In one embodiment the area may
be to delineated by a mat 90 having optical or other indicia 92
printed on its upper surface such as may be sensed by a sensor 37
of the vehicle 10 for example, an LED photosensor array). The
indicia 92 may, for example, provide for a boundary of a playing
field that must not be exited or edges of a racecourse track that
must not be passed through during racing. In this game, a signal
sent from the vehicles 10 indicating a crossing of that boundary
may be received by the referee device which may then provide a
command to the vehicle 10 crossing the boundary to stop for a given
period of time, for example, 5 seconds, providing an implicit
penalty for crossing the boundary. This command from the referee
device overrides any commands from the player per decision block 82
of FIG. 4 that might otherwise instruct the vehicle 10 to continue
moving.
Alternatively, the indicia 92 may indicate, for example, waypoints
or goals that the vehicles 10 must "touch" by sensing the indicia
92 with the sensor 37. Here the referee device may provide for a
score for how many goals were attained by each vehicle 10 and/or
may measure a time required to reach each goal. Goals indicated by
the indicia 92 may also represent the finish line of a racecourse
and the time may provide an indication of the winner of the race,
for example, as displayed on one of the controllers 40. It will be
appreciated that the referee device may also provide for a starting
"gun" or signal for the beginning of the race. In this regard, the
referee device may monitor whether driving commands are sent by the
players to the vehicles before the clock indicates that the race
should start, and may penalize those players appropriately, for
example, with respect to points, time, or by pausing motion of the
vehicle 10.
Example II
Referring no to FIG. 6, each vehicle 10 may provide a bumper 94
positioned, for example, at a front edge of the housing 12
connected to a switch 96 or the like communicating with the
microcontroller 30 (shown in FIG. 2) to indicate contact between
the bumper 94 and some external structure. Alternatively, a virtual
bumper may be created by establishing a boundary 98 related to
Bluetooth proximity. These features allow a game rule set related
to a game of tag to be implemented in which a given vehicle 10 is
randomly assigned an it token (being a virtual token implemented in
the program rather than a physical token). This token may then be
passed to another vehicle 10 by maneuvering vehicle 10 with the
token to touch its bumper 94 to another vehicle or to be within the
virtual boundary 98 of another vehicle 10. Once this point of
proximity is attained, the token is transferred to the other
vehicle 10 by the referee device monitoring these proximity signals
and keeping an accounting of the location of the token. Passing of
the token may be signaled, for example, by a tone or visual display
on the referee controller 40 which may also keep track of
statistics such as the time the token is held and may enforce rules
such as "no touch backs" which prevent the token from being
returned to the individual most recently releasing the token. A
visual indication may be provided on one of the vehicles 10 that it
has the token, for example, by illuminating an LED. It will be
appreciated that this sensed contact feature may also be
implemented without the referee device either by programming in the
vehicle 10 or in its corresponding control device controller
40.
Referring again to FIG. 5, other manipulable elements beyond the
mat 90 or instead of the mat 90 may be provided in the region
through which the vehicles 10 move including, for example, pylons
100, for example, for implementing a slalom type race, or a ball or
puck 102, for example, such as may be used for playing a soccer or
hockey type game. These manipulables 100 and 102 may include radio
transmitters for being part of the mesh network 67 of FIG. 3, for
example, to receive commands causing the illumination of internal
lights or the like and provide proximity signals. The manipulables
100, 102 may alternatively have other proximity sensing elements in
them for detection of the location of the vehicles 10 and
communication of this location to the controllers 40.
Referring to FIG. 7, the pylons 100 may provide for a unique visual
appearance or other identifying feature, for example, synchronized
light beam signals allowing them to be uniquely identified by a
camera in a virtual reality headset 104 implementing the controller
40. In this case, the pylons 100 may also serve as fiducials for
anchoring virtual elements 112 created visually by the virtual
reality headset 104 positioned with respect to the pylons 100
providing, for example, a fanciful landscape through which the
vehicles 10 may move, in this case, collisions between the vehicles
10 and the virtual elements 112 may be prevented by proximity
sensing between the pylons 100 and the vehicles 10, and the signal
sent from the vehicles 10 to the referee device which turns off the
vehicles 10 when they collide with the perimeter of the virtual
element 112 allowing only operation of the vehicle 10 backwards
away from the virtual element 112.
It will be appreciated that the vehicles 10 may make use of control
"macros" programmed into or executed on the controllers 40, for
example, executing a set of prestored moves or the like. Because a
single controller 40 may control and communicate with multiple
vehicles 10, it is possible to provide all of the vehicles 10 the
same commands allowing them to move in a synchronized fashion.
Retrievable Golf Ball
Referring now to FIG. 8, a golf ball 200, or any device whose
location, height, speed, or trajectory may need to be determined,
may be constructed to include a battery 202 providing power to a
processor system 204 having a processor 206 and memory 208 holding
a stored program. The processor system 204 may communicate with an
accelerometer/gyro 210 and may further communicate with a
low-energy Bluetooth transceiver 212 also powered by the battery
202. The processor system 204 may operate in a low-power mode until
high accelerations trigger a wake state in which the golf ball 200
transmits a Bluetooth signal 214 to a smart wireless device 216 of
the type described above with respect to smart wireless controller
40.
Referring now to FIG. 9, location of the golf ball 200 may be
obtained by a direction finding process in which a player 218 walks
along a circular path 220 moving through iso-strength lines 222
related to the strength of the signal from the golf ball's 200
internal Bluetooth transceiver 212. Alternatively, the player may
rotate in place using the player's body as a signal absorber that
periodically occludes the signal from the golf ball. Through use of
the compass or an internal OPS and the measurement of signal
strength along the path 220 or with rotation, a direction 224 of
maximum signal strength may be determined which, when coupled with
the position of the player, will indicate a direction between the
player and the golf ball 200.
Referring also to FIG. 10, measurements 226 of acceleration as a
function of time may be made by the golf ball 200 using the
contained accelerometer/gyro 210 and transmitted to the smart
wireless device 216 to provide additional information about the
range of the golf ball 200. A peak acceleration 128 may be
identified at the time the golf ball 200 is struck with the golf
club and integration of this peak over time t.sub.1 may provide a
force that may be used to calculate an approximate acceleration of
the golf ball. After the golf ball 200 leaves the club, a period of
zero acceleration 130 will be experienced as the golf ball 200
moves in free flight through the air during a period of time
t.sub.2. This time of zero acceleration defines the limit of time
t.sub.1 which begins as soon as acceleration rises above the normal
gravitational constant value.
With acceleration and flight time, a rough range may be determined
assuming normal golf ball angle of flight. This estimate may be
refined through knowledge of the type of club being used to strike
the golf ball 200. When the golf ball is ultimately recovered, an
actual distance to the golf ball 200 (measured with GPS as the
player walks to the golf ball 200) can be determined and the time
of flight and maximum acceleration may be used to determine
qualities of the golf swing including, for example, the loft, angle
and the like.
It will be appreciated that other radio communication protocols
than Bluetooth LE may be used in these applications.
Certain terminology is used herein for purposes of reference only,
and thus is not intended to be limiting. For example, terms such as
"upper", "lower", "above", and "below" refer to directions in the
drawings to which reference is made. Terms such as "front", "back",
"rear", "bottom" and "side", describe the orientation of portions
of the component within a consistent but arbitrary frame of
reference which is made clear by reference to the text and the
associated drawings describing the component under discussion. Such
terminology may include the words specifically mentioned above,
derivatives thereof, and words of similar import. Similarly, the
terms "first", "second" and other such numerical terms referring to
structures do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly
indicated by the context.
When introducing elements or features of the present disclosure and
the exemplary embodiments, the articles "a", "an", "the" and "said"
are intended to mean that there are one or more of such elements or
features. The terms "comprising", "including" and "having" are
intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional
elements or features other than those specifically noted. It is
further to be understood that the method steps, processes, and
operations described herein are not to be construed as necessarily
requiring their performance in the particular order discussed or
illustrated, unless specifically identified as an order of
performance. It is also to be understood that additional or
alternative steps may be employed.
References to "a microprocessor" and "a processor" or "the
microprocessor" and "the processor," can be understood to include
one or more microprocessors that can communicate in a stand-alone
and/or a distributed environment(s), and can thus be configured to
communicate via wired or wireless communications with other
processors, where such one or more processor can be configured to
operate on one or more processor-controlled devices that can be
similar or different devices. Furthermore, references to memory,
unless otherwise specified, can include one or more
processor-readable and accessible memory elements and/or components
that can be internal to the processor-controlled device, external
to the processor-controlled device, and can be accessed via a wired
or wireless network.
It is specifically intended that the present invention not be
limited to the embodiments and illustrations contained herein and
the claims should be understood to include modified forms of those
embodiments including portions of the embodiments and combinations
of elements of different embodiments as come within the scope of
the following claims. All of the publications described herein,
including patents and non-patent publications are hereby
incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
* * * * *
References